Business briefs: Five local companies take part in Beer Week, and more

Sunday

Feb 16, 2014 at 7:00 AM

Staff report

Five local microbreweries are scheduled to take part Wednesday night in the third annual Beer City U.S.A.’s Beer Week festivities at The B.O.B. in downtown Grand Rapids.The celebration begins at 6 p.m., with lots of local creations being served up.Among the 16 craft breweries featured are New Holland Brewing Company, Saugatuck Brewing Company, Virtue Cider of Fennville, White Flame of Hudsonville and Pike 51 of Hudsonville.“The Beer Week tradition began after Grand Rapids was named Beer City USA in 2012,” said Greg Gilmore, CEO of The Gilmore Collection on restaurants.Others involved in the proceedings are BOB’s Brewery, The Mitten, Founders, Dark Horse, Brewery Vivant, Blackrocks, Arbor Brewing, Schmolz, Mount Pleasant Brewing, Bell’s and Perin.Tickets are $25 and include dinner and four microbrew sampling tickets. Additional beer-tasting tickets can be purchased for $1 each. To purchase tickets, call (616) 356-2000 or go to seatengine.com/venues/the-bob/events.Local real estate firm sets recordColdwell Banker Woodland Schmidt real estate said it set an all-time record with more than half a billion dollars in sales and more than 3,500 properties sold in the lakeshore region last year.“We had a closed sales volume of over $522 million and includes over 3,500 closed sale units — another record,” Jack Bouman, president of Coldwell Banker Woodland Schmidt Lakeshore Region, said in a news release.He said sales prices spiked about 10 percent higher on average compared to 2012 sales figures.Bouman predicted 2014 will see continued growth in the local housing market, but that sales of units and sales prices are more likely to keep rising in the single digits.JCI honoredJohnson Controls Inc. has been named 2013 Minority Manufacturer of the Year by the Minority Business Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce for its joint venture with Bridgewater Interiors.JCI, which has multiple manufacturing facilities in Holland, was presented with a special honor by U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, at Bridgewater Interiors in Detroit last week.— Follow this reporter on Twitter @BizHolland